The Weekly Wrap

Brought to you by Shedshaker Brewing, where you can buy the new, limited edition Harcourt Rising Phoenix Pacific Ale and help raise money for the Harcourt recovery! At the Taproom now.

And then it was the end of Feb, with 2 teams ending their season and the rest heading into the long weekend, with both C Grade teams looking for finals action.

Let’s start last Friday night, with the Women’s team.

Women’s sponsored by Shedshaker Brewing
Round 8 v Muckleford

The Women’s played their game of the season against Muckleford at home. The clear player of the match this week was Miho. She was the top run maker with 14 including two 4s and bowled three overs at 1/15.
Other honourable mentions go a) Julia for a diving catch b) the fielding unit for effecting four runouts, c) William for the fielding tips at training, cheers mate! Speaking of which, if there is anyone wanting to get involved at training next season with some structured skill development for the woman’s team, let’s have a chat, the help would be very much appreciated!
The final score was United 2/88, Muckleford 6/93.
Both teams headed to the pub to share a meal to celebrate the end of the season.
The drive for next season starts now!

B Grade sponsored by Entity Eco Therapy
Round 15 v Newstead.

Last game for the year for the Bees, and one against fellow straggler Newstead. It was a big game and a very inexperienced team (aside from Steve and Simon) headed to Cricket Willow with hopes and dreams.
Fair to say batting first and being 5/6 was not anyone’s hope or dream. That said, solid partnerships then happened between Simon (24) and Reuben (7), then Simon and Ken (14) and Abel contributing 6 saw us bat out the 40 overs and get to 7/84. It could have been so much worse.
Newstead got off to a wobbly start that kept on wobbling as Zane (1/12 off 7), Abel (2/24 off 7), Reuben (2/15 off 5) and Otis (1/27 off 6.4) reduced the home team to 5/17. Game on!
Sadly, lacking a touch of bowling depth meant the Steaders recovered and got to the target 6 down.
It was a fighting effort and great to see the U16s making great progress in senior cricket. Next season bodes well!

A Reserve sponsored by Shedshaker Brewing
Round 16 v Newstead

Another make-shift team (a lot of B Grade experience!) went to the lush Newstead rec reserve to see how they would go against a strong Stead team, sitting 2nd on the ladder.

Batting first, we got off to a solid start, a 50 run opening partnership between Jimmy (26) and Louis (16) setting a base on a slightly up and down pitch. Steady and accurate Steader bowling saw the middle order wobble, with only Charlie (22*) hanging in there, and getting us to 7/133 off the overs. Shout out to me for hitting the only 6 of the innings and being bowled 2 balls later. Solid.

Ollie struck 2nd ball of the Steader innings and there was a sniff in the air. That sniff didn’t last too long as the home team knuckled down and scored quite quickly, losing 4 wickets on the way to their target and getting there before drinks. Ollie (2/27 off 4), Beau (1/42 of 6) and Adz (1/14 off 2) got the wickets, but not enough.
The last game of the season for the Rezzers will be at Taradale.

A Grade sponsored by The Bridge Hotel
Round 11 v Barkers Creek

Day 1. We won the toss and decided to have a bowl in tricky damp conditions for both sides at the Camp. We started brightly with Dave taking a couple and Gabe snagging one, leaving Barkers in trouble at 3/18. A solid batting partnership then formed before Lucas (pretty much on one hamstring) got the breakthrough wicket. Luke and James chipped in well with the ball and everyone toiled away in the field, trying to keep that ball somewhat dry!

After 65 overs we ended up bowling them out for 173. Dave finished with a standout 6/31 and Gabe picked up 1 more in what was an impressive effort with just the 10 players! Having to then bat out 6 overs to end the day we finished up at 1/9 with Gabe unfortunately snicking one behind. With the Kneebone father-son duo currently out in the middle, them and the rest of the side hope to finish the season well next weekend.

Can the As finish the year with a win over the old enemy? Come down to Camp on Saturday and find out!

C-Grade sponsored by Big Jim's Pizza
Round 9

Gold: In the first day of the last home and away season game, we lost the toss and were asked to bowl by the combine side (Harcourt/North/Barkers Creek). Their batters started aggressively on the small sized Western Oval, but our patient and diligent bowling saw our opening bowlers, Zane Davidge (3/26) and Charlie Cordy (3/24) demolish their top order, before Ted Cordy (2/1), Otis Whitesmith (1/13), and Sully Lane (1/13) cleaned up the tail to leave us to chase 96.

With 10 overs to bat, Charlie Cordy (25 not out) and Louis Parsons (10) got us to 1/39 to set us up in a good position for next Saturday’s chase. A win will cement us a spot in the final so good luck to all.

Blue: Taking on top team Muckleford at their home, the Blues decided to bowl first and found it hard going as Muckleford’s openers both got to 50. The team plugged away and would eventually take 7/76 to leave a target of 222 to chase down next week. Darcy (3/26 plus a runout), Abel (2/42) and Emma (1/18) took the wickets.